Local flooding expected in Cork as rain warnings kick in for Munster counties

Flooding on Midleton's Main Street during Storm Babet last year. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

Localised flooding in Cork city is "expected" as yellow and orange weather warnings kick in on Wednesday, according to Cork City Council.

A status yellow rain warning has been in place for Cork and Kerry since 3pm on Monday and will expire at midday on Wednesday - at which point a status orange warning will kick in, lasting until midday on Thursday.

Seperately, a status yellow rain warning for Waterford was issued by Met Éireann for the same period.

While Cork City Council is expecting localised flooding, the "usual suspects" like the River Lee should avoid bursting their banks, the council's director of services David Joyce said on Wednesday morning.

"There will be constant, heavy, driving rain for the 24 hours, with strong winds, but we're not expecting any very very significant flooding across the city, we are expecting local drainage systems to get clogged up and overwhelmed by debris.

"We do expect some localised flooding, small localised flooding, across parts of the city."

Mr Joyce said that the council were not expecting the city centre to flood as it has done previously and that the Lee and it's catchments would not burst its banks.

Branches which fall off trees in the wind and other debris would be the main concern for the council's teams, which Mr Joyce said were "on standby" if they were needed.

"It could literally happen anywhere, but it will be localised in nature.

"The drainage network should be able to take this event if there are no localised issues. It'll be somewhere between 30-40mm of rain in the next 24 hours, but it will be addressed through the network unless there's a localised problem, but we can't predict where a branch could block a gulley or other debris getting in to a channel."

Mr Joyce urged people to be aware of the dangerous conditions on the road, particularly overnight when the sun goes down.